Slowly Arthur's eyes opened up to the familiar ceiling of his room in the floating castle. He had spent the last hour talking with Windsom and Ademir, discussing their strategy for gathering forces, an arranged time for communication, and convincing Ademir still. Trusting and following a lesser for something like this was a big hit to his pride, so it took more effort than just having Windsom there to convince him completely, and for him to trust Arthur would follow through to the end.

"Did you enjoy your nap?" Sylvie called out.

"Nap? Is that what you thought I was doing?"

"That's what it felt like to us," Regis replied.

"Hmm, this may be problematic."

"What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, I was actually using an artifact to speak with Windsom. He's already making progress by the way."

"That's good, but now I feel like we need to be watching you whenever we think you're asleep so we can keep you safe," Sylvie stated.

"Yeah that doesn't sound creepy," Regis chortled.

"We'll worry about that later. How have things been since I've been out?"

"Good," that both said quickly and in unison.

"Are you sure?" He asked suspiciously.

"Of course, all is quiet here," Sylvie replied.

"And you too?"

"Like two peas in a pod. We're becoming the best of friends," Regis said, not sounding convincing at all.

"What kind of trouble did you two cause?"

"Us? Trouble? Never," Regis replied.

"We're getting along great right now," Sylvie added.

"Fine, just clean up whatever mess you made like it never happened."

"Umm, ok," Sylvie replied, sounding nervous.

"We're fucked," Regis commented quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Bye!" Regis replied, as he and Sylvie cut themselves off.

"I'm almost scared to find out what they did."

Ever since he returned to his body he had noticed something, a heavy feeling on his chest. At first he thought it was a side effect of the artifact, but as he talked with Regis and Sylvie he realized he was wrong, and knew what it was. He looked down and smiled as he saw the top of a head with gunmetal hair on his chest. He moved his arms and wrapped them around Tess.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked tiredly without looking up.

"I just woke up."

"Good, I was worried I woke you."

"When did you get back?"

"Maybe fifteen minutes ago." Tess then groaned. "My feet hurt so much."

"Was the tour that bad?"

She snuggled up with him even more. "I've heard the saying, shop till you drop, I've even done some extreme shopping myself before. But those nobles were just ridiculous."

Arthur laughed. "So I take it the trip was a success?"

She turned her head to face him. "Oh yes, they loved seeing the gardens, and the arts district, and don't get me started on the shopping strips. How much room do they have in their dimensional rings? I swear each one of them bought enough art, clothes, jewelry, and other items to open a reasonably sized boutique."

Arthur laughed even more.

"I chose shoes that not only looked good, but also were comfortable to walk in, but my feet still hurt! I don't know if I could have kept up if I didn't channel mana to my legs!"

"You poor princess," he replied as he held her. "Just don't tell your grandfather that, he may declare war on Alacrya to avenge you."

Tess giggled. "Enough about me and my time, how did the talks go?"

"Great. They pretty much agreed to our terms, all that is left now is the details."

"Did they have any terms they wanted to add?" She asked with a knowing tone.

"Who told you?"

"Caera overheard her parents talking about it. She wanted to make sure I knew she didn't support this idea at all. As much as I've come to like her, I definitely wouldn't want to share you with her."

"You two seem to have gotten rather close," he commented.

"Yeah, shes not as bad as I expected, I think I may even be able to call her a friend, she even got me a gift."

Tess sat up and straddled Arthur, and began to unbutton her shirt. Immediately Arthur gave a questioning look.

"What?" She asked as she noticed his expression.

"Why are you wearing the top of your Lance uniform?"

"I'm not, I'm wearing the top of your Lance uniform," she replied with a smirk then hugged herself with it. "And as for why, I wanted to wear something cozy."

Arthur looked and realized it was looking baggy on her, due to his size. He also noticed how hot she looked wearing it.

"I don't know if I'd call it cozy," he placed his hands on her hips. "But it definitely looks good on you."

"I know," she replied, and ground on his pelvis, causing him to moan from his erection that was quickly forming. She then resumed unbuttoning her top, then opened it. She was wearing a plain black bra, except Arthur noticed something different about it. Not only was it not as cute or sexy as the ones she usually wore, but the material appeared to be softer, and pressing down on her breasts more than a normal, but less than a binding.

"What kind of bra is this?" He asked she he reached up and unintentionally groped her as he was feeling the material.

"Arrrt," she moaned lightly.

"Oops."

"It's ok. Pregnancy has made them sensitive. As for the bra, it's an active wear bra from Alacrya. Caera and her maid measured me while we were there, but the shop didn't have my size, so she bought me a few."

"How does it feel?"

"Sooo much better than the binding I used to wear when training or fighting. She said she wears them too when she goes on ascents in the Alacryan relictombs, and I can see why." Tess looked down at Arthur and bit her lip. "You know, I got a bit sweaty from today, and we have a few hours before the banquet. Would you like to take a bath with me?" She asked innocently.

Arthur smirked. "I'd love to."

——————————————————————-

"Presenting Princess Tessia and Arthur Leywin," a servant announced

A relaxing bath, some fun, and several hours later Arthur and Tess were now arriving at the banquet. Tess was wearing a strapless turquoise dress with gold detailing, with white gloves that reached mid bicep to hide her battle scars, a matching fabric that went around and half way up her neck, and a matching necklace that started to go down her cleavage. With her hair now only a little longer than shoulder length her usual hair style wasn't an option. Still her hair was silky smooth and a beautiful shine to it, with two thin braids on either side that stopped right above her shoulders and framed her face beautifully. In her hair she had three golden diamond shaped hair clips, one on each side and one in the back, with a string of black pearls to contrast her hair connecting them.

To her left with his arm hooked with hers was Arthur, wearing a solid black suit with a turquoise handkerchief, tie clip, and trim at the ends of the cuffs of his coat that allowed his suit to match with her dress. Arthur generally preferred to wear elven formal wear as it was more comfortable, but Tess' dress wasn't of elven design either. This was only the first of the daily banquets that were to be held during the Alacryan delegation's visit, which meant a different outfit for every day. Of course while Tess had picked five different dresses, one for each day, she only picked three complete outfits for Arthur, two elven and one human, with a different coat, shirt, or accessories to make his suit just a little different for each day.

As they walked in they were greeted by several nobles from both Dicathen and Alacrya. More than just the council members and their families were present from Dicathen's side. To fill out the crowd a bit several generals and nobles who played a big part in the war were present. Some of which Arthur knew were traitors in the previous timeline, like house Wykes. Thankfully others like house Flamesworth weren't present. Even though Virion wouldn't let Arthur exclude houses for the crimes they committed in the previous timeline, Jasmine was all the reason they needed to keep house Flamesworth away on this occasion.

Arthur saw Kathlyn and Lunaris moving through the nobles together with arms locked, as Blaine and Priscilla were chatting with some other nobles. Stepping away from the council was the best thing for Blaine, because thanks to that it was discovered that his condition wasn't hereditary, but instead came from an outside source.

It was a few days after they returned to the floating castle, Arthur bumped into Curtis walking down the halls, but he saw something different, he saw aether on him. After some talking and investigating, Arthur found the source to be an artifact he was wearing around his neck, that was actually a family heirloom that previously belonged to his father. Curious Arthur used Aroa's Requiem on the artifact, and to his surprise the motes were absorbed by it. Arthur learned the purpose of the artifact was to refresh the wearer's mind, and Curtis confirmed it did do that, but not near as well as after Arthur had fixed it.

With this piece of information Arthur realized Blaine's condition wasn't actually hereditary, but in fact was caused by unknowingly using a damaged artifact. With Curtis now safe from harm the concern was turned to Blaine. The healing arts of Vivum were based solely on one's understanding of the body. Knowledge about muscles, bones, blood flow, the nervous system, even each of the various internal organs was necessary to properly heal someone. Unfortunately for Blaine Arthur's knowledge about the human brain, even from a thousand lifetimes, was very limited. Nevertheless he did attempt to heal him.

Blaine was evaluated by his family's personal physician for several days, and confirmed his condition had regressed, but was not completely reversed. Due to the war Blaine used the artifact several times a day, worsening his condition with every use. In the end Arthur attempted to heal him several times, but Blaine never improved any more than after the first time. Thankfully for him and his family, his condition did regress enough that it could be managed with the same herbal treatment he was using before the war.

Curtis was the only member of the Glayder family not present, and wouldn't be during the entire negotiation. His reason being Lilia. The trauma of losing her parents was too much, and they both agreed that it would be best if she stayed away while the delegation was visiting.

Following the death of her parents all wedding plans were put on hold. Everytime she tried she just broke down in tears as her mother was supposed to be there helping her. Secretly Blaine had ordered that one of the recovery teams go to Helstea manor and look for the bodies. It took twelve people an entire week, but the bodies of Vincent and Tabitha were eventually found together, along with several servants, near the back of the manor, by the exit to the back garden, most likely as they were trying to escape. Finally being able to put her parents to rest gave Lilia the closure she needed, and has been moving forward since then. Wedding plans have slowly resumed, with Alice and Priscilla being there for her nearly every step of the way.

As they greeted nobles and made small talk Arthur took note of Alduin and Merial, looking very close while speaking with an Alacryan couple. This had become normal for them, ever since after Arthur's return from the Alacrya mission.

A few days after Arthur's return Alduin had stopped him and asked for his help. Merial's "time" was just around the corner, and he had heard of how well he "took care" of Tess, and asked for his help. It was a very awkward conversation for Arthur, but he pushed through it for the sake of helping his in-laws happiness. It was a complete success and everyone on the floor knew it. Arthur and everyone learned just how vocal Merial was during enjoyable sex, so much so that Arthur took the liberty of erecting a weak sound barrier within their apartment, strong enough to keep all noise in, but anything solid could pass through in impeded.

"Hey, wouldn't it be crazy if your mother-in-law got pregnant now?" Regis asked amused. "Your kid could be older than his aunt or uncle!" He laughed.

"I have to admit, that would be rather awkward," Sylvie chimed in.

"Yeah, let's just hope for avoiding awkward at this point. That just sounds too weird for me," Arthur replied. "Anyway, how are you holding up Sylv?"

"Alright I guess. Thanks for sending someone down with some food for me, it's helping to pass the time," she replied.

"Again I'm sorry. If it wasn't for the image we're needing to project..."

"I know. I just wish I could enter the relictomb. At least then I could have something to do."

"You want me to come down and keep you company?" Regis taunted.

"I'm nowhere near that bored. You just keep out of trouble."

The Alacryan nobles practically flocked to Arthur and Tess, eager to take advantage of what they saw as an opportunity. In their eyes Highlord Denoir essentially insulted Tess and her marriage to Arthur just by proposing for him to take Caera as a second wife. Now blood was in the water, and they were all looking for a chance to have at least one over on the highest of the highbloods.

"I'm going to rip that fuckers throat out!" Regis yelled, seething with rage.

"Woah there," Arthur said while making small talk with a young horned woman and her husband. "What's wrong?"

"Look!" He hissed.

Arthur felt his attention being pulled, and saw the problem.

"Seriously?" He replied, as he saw Aya laughing at something Lauden had said.

"She's mine! No one gets to fuck that ass but me!"

"Didn't she say the idea of doing it with you felt cursed?" Arthur questioned matter of factly.

"That's why I'm working on a human form now."

"Regis, you've become a simp."

"No I...fuck. I have, haven't I."

"Looks like it. I mean, I can kind of get why. She did seem like the only woman who would have done it with you."

"Not helping. But this does raise a question that I've been thinking about."

"What now?" Arthur groaned, expecting something completely lewd or vulgar.

"What is it with elves?"

"What?"

"Just follow me on this. I've gone through your memories of the past couple thousand years, and elves always existed in either real life, or works of fiction. They are always nature loving, and are either horny as hell sex machines, or like nuns. But either way, the women are always sexy as hell and seductive."

"I don't think the elves are like that in this world."

"Excuse me, have you met your wife? She's hornier than I am. You two have as much sex in a day as everyone in an average village on any given night. I swear if you weren't mostly dragon I doubt you'd be able to keep up with her sex drive."

"Ok I'll admit Tess has a pretty strong sexual appetite, but to say all elves..."

"Do I need to bring her mother up? I think the elves of this world just keep their sex drives in check until they're married in most cases, then fuck like rabbits in heat."

"Ahh, the conversations we have in my head."

"Yeah, I need to get laid."

"The beast glades are right below us," Arthur suggested.

"....just because I look like a wolf doesn't mean I would bang one. My tastes are still more refined than that, and lean more to humans and elves, and sexy horned babes like the one you're talking to."

"And it begins."

"Just imagine grabbing her by the horns and..."

"General Leywin," Corbett greeted as he and his wife walked up.

"Great timing." "Highlord, I hope you and your wife are enjoying your evening."

"We are," his eyes then shifted to Tess. "Good evening princess."

"Good evening Highlord."

"Tell me, is it you I have to thank for all the boxes and bags in my chambers?"

"For the record, your wife and the others far exceeded my expectations."

"The artisans from Elenoir are far superior than the ones in Alacrya," Lenora stated in her defense. "You can't beat quality handmade craftsmanship. Besides, I was just doing as Lady Seris had asked. Weren't you just saying that trade was one of the terms? Believe me, the goods from Elenoir would sell so easily in any of the the larger cities in Alacrya."

"And just to think Lord Corbett, they have two more cities to visit," Arthur commented with an amused tone.

Corbett groaned in response.

"If the Highlord is having financial troubles, I'm sure I could..." Arthur joked, before being quickly cut off.

"No no. Our blood has more than enough gold to spare for hundreds of shopping trips like this. I'm just thinking about when we return home."

"When you return home?" Arthur and Tess questioned.

"I believe the highlord is referring to all these gifts the lady had purchased for him," Carea said as she walked up and joined them.

"Damn, I need to grab her horns from behind," Regis commented lewdly, his mouth practically watering.

Carea was wearing a strapless red dress that clung to her body amazingly, as made obvious by several young Dicathen men who were following her around like little puppies. It stopped at her knees, but there was a slit on the right side that ended mid thigh. Underneath she wore black stockings, with matching black gloves and black silk shawl over her shoulders, and a silk cloth tied gently in a bow that looked like a rose around her neck. Her navy hair was loosely held in a ponytail, tied off with a red ribbon with a single small braid, inspired by Tess, and draped over her right shoulder.

Corbett cleared his throat while showing a displeased expression, not liking that she didn't refer to him as her father. He then gently put his arm around his wife's waist and smiled at her.

"Nonsense, I have no doubt I will like whatever my wife has purchased," Corbett replied.

"Even the clothes I'll have you try on?" Lenora asked.

Ever so slightly his eye twitched.

"Even the clothes."

Arthur waved down a waiter, who after seeing it was him, quickly ran to the bar, got another drink, and returned.

"How about some wine Highlord Corbett?" Arthur asked as he picked up a glass of red wine for himself, and a yellow drink for Tess.

Corbett, his wife, and Caera also also grabbed a drink, and they all took notice of Tess'.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's that drink you have there?" Lenora asked Tess.

"Oh, it's just a mixed fruit juice. I can't have alcohol," she replied.

"Is that some kind of elven custom?" Corbett asked as he had seen other elves drinking, but all were older.

Tess smiled brightly. "No, it's because I'm pregnant."

Caera gasped. "Congratulations!" She said then gave her a gentle hug. "I wish I knew, I would have got a gift for the baby."

As the two talked the highlord and his wife paled. They had suggested Arthur take their daughter as a second wife, who seemed to have already forged a friendship with Tess, who they just learned was pregnant. Quite simply their position couldn't get much worse right now. Thankfully for them, they both knew how to think on their feet.

"Congratulations princess," Lenora said with her kindest smile.

"Yes, congratulations. There is no greater joy than parenthood," Corbett added, then looked to Arthur. "Since we'll be here for a few more days, we should sit down and have a drink together before I leave. I can share some wisdom I've gained as a father over a glass of dragons breath."

"Dragons breath?" Tess questioned, feeling nauseous for the first time during the pregnancy.

"It's the name of an alcohol. The most high end and expensive ever made in Alacrya. I happened to bring two bottles with me to celebrate the signing of the treaty, but we can crack one open a little early."

"First he wants you to be his son-in-law, now he wants to be your friend or father figure?" Regis questioned in disbelief.

"At least it's an improvement." "I look forward to it."